2017 Astana Expo To Elevate Malaysia-Kazakhstan Bilateral Ties, Says Envoy

By Niam Seet Wei ASTANA (Kazakhstan), July 14 (Bernama) -- The 2017 Astana Expo here is set to elevate Malaysia-Kazakhstan bilateral relations to a higher level, said Malaysian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Syed Mohamad Bakri. He said the two-way trade between Malaysia and Kazakhstan increased to US$49.2 million in 2016 from US$38.8 million in 2015. “I am confident that the trade volume will continue to grow, especially with the ongoing Astana Expo," he told Malaysian reporters at the Malaysia Pavilion at the expo here, recently. Syed Mohamad said the three-month long expo, which started on June 10, was expected to welcome more official delegations from Malaysia. “Melaka Yang Dipertua Negeri (Melaka Head of State) Mohd Khalil Yaakob and Melaka Chief Minister Idris Haron are expected to visit the expo in August. “We also expect to receive ministers, deputy ministers, senior official from various ministries, as well as royalties at the expo,” he said. He said so far, Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Dr Maximus Ongkili, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Wilfred Madius Tangau, as well as several deputy ministers had toured the expo. "The expo gives fresh impetus in improving relations between Malaysia and Kazakhstan in various spheres of cooperation such as trade and investment, education, Islamic banking, energy and renewable energy," he added. Syed Mohamad, who took over from his predecessor, Hidayat Abdul Hamid on March 28 this year, believes that ties between the two countries would remain strong moving forward, judging from rising two-way trade over the past few years. On education, he said more than 8,000 Kazakh students had graduated from Malaysian institutions of higher learning over the past decade and the numbers kept rising. The number of Kazakh students who graduated from Malaysian universities rose from 1,233 in 2013 to 1,267 (2014) and 1,405 Kazakh (2015), he said, adding that this showed that Malaysia was a preferred tertiary education destination for the Kazakhs, especially to study English. Syed Mohamad said however, tourists arrivals from Kazakhstan to Malaysia dropped to 10,717 in 2016 from 15,410 in 2015 due to the devaluation of the Tenge (Kazakh currency) as plunging oil prices had hit Kazakhstan, one of the world's major oil producers. "We hope to welcome more Kazakh tourists once the crude oil prices stabilise," he said. -- BERNAMA